Month: May 2011

For some time now, those of us in Academic Technology at Palomar College have wanted to make a web content management system available to faculty and staff. After literally years of trying out different platforms, we have chosen to use WordPress. Details will be forthcoming about how to get your own WordPress site at Palomar College. In the meantime, here is some information that you may find useful:

What is a web content management system and why do I need one?

A web content management system is meant to make it easy to ‘manage’ your content on the web. Traditionally, faculty and staff on campus who wanted a website had to use web editing software such as FrontPage, Expression Web, or Dreamweaver to create and edit their sites. This is a difficult task because it requires not only knowing how to use the editing software but also, in many cases, knowledge about technologies such as HTML, javascript, cascading style sheets, etc. A content management system, or CMS, allows users to create and edit their sites through their web browser. Generally, no knowledge other than basic web browsing skills is necessary.

Ideally, a CMS will make it easy for someone to publish your content without having to worry about the details of web design. A user can post to a blog, share files, or add links with very little technical knowledge.

Why WordPress?

We chose WordPress as our platform because it is easy to use, very popular (therefore well tested and supported), and free.